The Earth Elders and Y2K conference held on January 30 at New College of California in Santa Rosa will be broadcast on cable channel 72 (for Cable One subscribers only in Santa Rosa) at 8 - 9:40 p.m. on April 12 and 19 and at 3 - 4:40 p.m. on April 14 and 21.

The conference featured reports from Social Security rep Randee Dimond, Jim Anderson of the St, Joseph's Health Care Project 2000 program, Georgia Prescott of the Council Area on Aging, and others reporting on Y2K readiness in their specific areas of concern.

The program also included Brad Larsen and John Bastione describing their efforts to organize their neighborhood for Y2K. The attendees broke up into small groups at the end of the conference to share their mutual concerns.

Shepherd Bliss was moderator. Connie Mahoney, an Earth Elders founders, organized the conference.

Jean Wasp videotaped and edited the program for broadcast.

-- Jean Wasp (jean@sonic.net), April 12, 1999

Answers

America has always been about Y2K issues. I have followed the thread here for quite awhile, and find it now tending more towards spirtual/fear issues than logistical issuses. Does anyone here believe that something like Y2k is going to plunge us towards the Dark Ages ? We are a nation based on a diverse culture that originated it roots on surviving the unexpected. If Y2K is anything, it's about logistics. Will Safeway have the bread or not? Will the power be off ? Will the water supply go down ? These were non issues 75 years ago, because, as a nation, many of these commercial providers did not exist. So now they do , and we use them, and now they may have an interruption. So let's be rational for a moment. In the past , we typically had better relationships with our neighbors. Now, in a crisis we find we may need their help (or their ours) it's a good time to make some new friends. That's good. By passing out information about being ready, the awareness should grow. But Y2K is no different than a flood or a tornado. It's a interupption in services. It could take a darker side like the Rodney King riots in LA a few years ago, but I don't think we'll see that in Sonoma County. We, as a people, come from a strong history in weathering storms. Y2K, is not about the end of the world, or the end of the planet. It's just about being prepared for another interruption in the services that we have left ourselves a little to dependent on. Prepare for that, not the spirtual upheaval that others would have us believe. Think about what this young writer had to say 400 years ago.. " If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be welcome." (Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672)

-- (Stephann@MSN.COM), April 12, 1999.